Material handling apparatus



Sept. 15, 1942. J. w. KING MATERIAL HANDLING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 11, 1959 4 un mfinf mw 3 0 2 mm MM Qm\ an x 3 mm o o 3\.mn 8 3 .ww

l/Wi/VTOI? J. W. m/va z dam-W ATTORNEY of the stock by the feed rollers.

Patented Sept. 15, 1942 UNITED STATE s PATENT OFFICE MATERIAL HANDLING ArrAaA'rus- John W. King, Oak Park, 111., assignor to Western Electric Company,

Incorporated, New York,

N. Y., a corporation of New York Application February '11, 1939, Serial No. 255,:95

11 Claims. (01. 153 -2) strip stock fed to the press from a roll thereof and punched and formed to various shapes, considerable dimculty has been experienced when that the feeding mechanism for the press has fed the stock forward either too'much or too little due to the fact that straighteners are usually provided with such presses and the stock is gripped by the straightening device. If the feeding rolls do not feed the exactly correct amount of stock, the centering pins must drag the stock through the straightening rolls or force the stock to bend between the straightening rolls and the centering pins. It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple and efficient stock feeding mechanism for punch presses.

In accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention, stock is fed to a punch press, having progressive tools mounted thereon, by feed rollers driven in timed relation to the reciprocation of the ram of the press A straightening device, driven by the same means which drives the feed rollers, is driven to straighten a predetermined length of stock simultaneously with the feeding The connection between the feed rollers and the straightening device is such that if the proper amount of stock is not fed through the feed rollers, the straightener will be drawn toward or pushed away from the pressby the centering pins for centering the stock in the press, thereby to change thelever arm of an actuating lever in the straightener whereby the amount of stock fed on the next succeeding operation of the straightener will be more or less than was fed on the previous operation, depending upon whether less or more than the proper amount of stock was fed through the straightener. p I I A better understanding of the invention will be had by reference to the accompanying drawing wherein Fig.1 is a front e vatione l view of a punch press having feeding and straightening mechanism embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 2 -2 of Fig. 1 in the direction of the arrows showing means for slidably mounting the stock straightener; and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view in section showing a progressive die illustrative of the type of die adapted for use in connection with the present invention.

Referring to the drawing, wherein like reference characters designate the same parts throughout the several views, a punch press,

15'having a base 5 supporting an upright 6, on

which guideways I are positioned for guiding a ram ii, includes a fly wheel 8, which may be driven by any suitable source of motive power (not shown). The fly wheel 9 is rotatably mounted in a bearing III, being supported on suitable trunnions ll, journalled in the bearing i0, and carrying an eccentrically mounted drive member 12, which cooperates with a drive rod or pitman I3, which, in turn, drives the ram 8 in the guides I. The trunnion II has suitably secured thereto a disc I, on which there is eccentrically pivoted a drive rod I! for driving a feeding mechanism, designated generally by the numeral I6.

The base 5 of the punch press has a bed or bolster 25 mounted thereon, which supports the feeding mechanism It .and a straightening mechanism IT. The feeding mechanism i6 comprises a driven feed roller 26, fixed to a shaft 21, journalled in an upright member 28 mounted on the bolster 25. The shaft 21 has an overrunning clutch 29 mounted'thereon for driving the shaft in the direction indicated by the arrow (Fig. 1) upon movement of the drive rod IS in the direction indicated by the arrow. While the element 29 has been described as an overrunning clutch, it may well be a ratchet mechanism or any other suitable device common to the art for right member 28. There are two of the upright members 28, one placed directly in back of the other, and two of the bearing blocks 3|, also one bers are fixed to a cover plate 33, in which threaded members 34 are secured, and a pair of plungers 35 extend through the plate 33 and are fixed to washer-like members 38 at their upper ends and at their lower ends are fixed to the bearing blocks 32. Surrounding the threaded members 34 are coil springs 31, which are interposed between the washer-like members 36 and washers 38 held on the threaded members by nuts 39.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the coil springs 31 will urge the bearing blocks 32 downwardly to force the freely rotatable feed roller 3| into engagement with a strip of stock 39 interposed between it and the driven feed roller 26. While a single bearing block 32 and a single mechanism for urging it downwardly have been shown, it will be understood that there are two of these provided, one directly behind the other, as viewed in Fig. 1, for tending to clamp the stock 39 between the feeding rollers.

Formed integrally with each of the upright members 28 is a projection 45, in which a shaft 46 is freely rotatable. The shaft 46 has fixed thereto a, pair of levers 41 .or engaging the undersides of the bearing blocks 32, and the shaft 46 also has fixed thereto an actuating arm 48, the left end of which (Fig. 1) extends into the path of an adjustable abutment 49, which will strike the arm 48 and raise the roller 3| out of engagement with the stock 39 just prior to engagement of the stock by the tools, which will be described hereinafter.

Mounted on the bed or bolster 25 is a die block 88, having a large aperture 6| and a small aperture 62 formed therein, the edges of which form the shearing edges of the die. The particular construction and form of the die is not pertinent to the present invention and the simple die shown is selected by way of illustration. This die block 68 cooperates with a punch 66 having two cutting member 63 and 64 thereon which cooperate with the shearing apertures 6| and 62 in the die. A suitable stripper plate 65 surrounds the cutting members 83 and 64 of the punch 86, which is suitably mounted on the ram 8. It will be noted that the cutting member 63 of the punch has an extending portion or centering pin 69 formed thereon, which is tapered at its lower end. This a portion of the punch or centering pin 69 is adapted to register in a hole 18 which was formed in thestock by the cutting member 64 so that the stock will be centered properly to locate the aperture 18 with respect to the edges of the part which is to be punched by the cutting member 63.

Fixed to the overrunning clutch member 29, and operable therewith, is a lever 1|, to the end of which there is pivoted a link 12, which interconnects the lever 1| and a bell crank lever 13' pivoted at 14 on a depending portion of the bed 25. The bell crank lever 15 has its horizontally extending arm bifurcated, as shown at 16, to receive a stud 11 mounted upon a slide rod 18. Fixed to the bed is a guide member 19, in which the slide rod 18 is freely slidable. At its upper end, the slide rod 18 carries a second stud 88, which enters into a slot 8| in a sleeve 82 surrounding a lever 83.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the reciprocatory motion of the drive rod I5 will be transmitted through the link and lever mechanism, just described, to the lever 83. The lever 83 is mounted on an overrunning clutch member directly behind the other. The tops of the mem- 84, or a similar device, for driving a shaft 85, on which it is mounted in the direction of the arrow. Fixed to the shaft 85 is a gear 86, which meshes with a pair of idler gears 81, which, in turn, mesh with three roll-driving gears 88 mounted upon shafts 89-89. There is a straightening roll 88 mounted on each of the shafts 68-89 and these rolls cooperate with spring-pressed straightening idler rolls 9|9|. The gears 86, 81, 88 and the straightening roll 98 and straightening idler rolls 9l--9l and all their cooperating parts are mounted within a housing 92, which is slidable on an extension 93 of the bed or bolster 25. The housing 92 has a key 98 formed thereon, which cooperates with a key 94 fixed to it by bolts 88, and the keys 93 and 94 slide in a keyway 88 formed in the extension 93 of the bed 25.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that motion may be transmitted from the rod I! through the link and lever mechanism, to the straightening rolls to drive them and that the straightening rolls are mounted in the housing 92, which is slidable as a unit with respect to the press mechanism, and that if the housing 92 is moved with respect to the press, the lever 83 will slide in its associated sleeve 82 to change the effective length of the lever arm of the lever 83,

thereby to vary the amount of rotation of the driven straightening rolls.

A better understanding of the invention may be had by reference to the following brief description of the mode of operation of the device.

It will be assumed that a length of stock 28, fed from a supply thereof, which may be in roll form, has been advanced to the point where the end of the stock is at the point indicated at A. Then, if the press is started to operate, the fiy wheel 9, in rotating in the direction of the arrow associated with it, will move the ram downwardly. The first time the fly wheel 9 actuates the ram 8, the disk l4 will cause the rod l5 to be moved in the direction of the arrow 2. short distance to feed the end of the stock to the point indicated at B, at which time the abutment 49 will engage the end of the arm 48 to move the feed rolls 3| out of engagement with the stock, and the further rotation of the fiy wheel 9 will cause the ram to move downwardly further to force the cutting member 64 through the stock to punch a hole in it. As the fiy wheel 9 continues to rotate, the rod l5 will move in the opposite direction and the overrunning clutch 28 will be turned backward on the shaft 21 and the shaft 21 will remain stationary until the rod I5 again begins to move in the direction indicated by the arrow associated with it. As the rod l5 begins to move in the direction of the arrow, a new section of stock 39 will be under the punch, and the end of the stock will be moved in a continuous motion to the point indicated at C. It will be understood that each time the shaft l5 moves in the direction of the arrow associated with it, the feed roll 26 will be driven in the direction of the arrow and the gears 86, 81 and 88 will also be driven in the direction of the arrows on them to feed a section of stock through the straightening mechanism I1. If, on the second operation of the press, the centering pin 69, engaging the aperture 10 formed by the cutting member 84, does not engage in the center of the aperture, then the stock will be moved either to the right or to the left and will either draw the housing 92 to the left or push it to the right to center the stock exactly without drawing any of it through the straightening mechanism I1. If too much stock has been fed by the feed rolls of feeding mechanism IS, the centering pin is will push the straightening device II to the right (Fig. l) and will lengthen the effective length of the lever arm of lever 03. However, since the amount of motion imparted tothe slide rod 18 is the samefo'r each stroke of the punch press, thelengthening of the effective lever arm of lever 83 will lessen the amount of rotation imparted thereby to the gear 88 and therefore a less amount of stock will be fed through thestraightening rolls on the next reciprocation of the ram 8. If, on the other hand, the feed rollers have not fed the stock sumciently far to the left, the centering pin 69 will draw the stock to the left and will thus draw the straightening device to the left to shorten the effective length of lever arm of lever 83, thereby to impart a greater amount of rotation to the straightener rolls on the next succeeding reciprocation of the ram. In this manner, the tendency of the centering pin 69 to deform the aperture is greatly lessened and the accuracy with which the feed of the straightener rolls must be set in appreciably decreased.

Although a specific embodiment of the inventlon has'been disclosed herein, wherein a selected type of feed device and straightening device have i been described in detail, it will be understood that the invention is subject to many modifications without departing from the scope of the appended claims. 1

What is claimed is: 1. In a material handling apparatus, stock feeding means, positively driven stock straightening means, 'and means acting in conjunction with the stock for automatically adjusting the stock straightening means to vary the amount of stock straightened on a succeeding operation in accordance with .the deviation of the amount straightened on a previous operation from a predetermined standard v e 2. In a material handling apparatus, stock forming means, means for feeding a predetermined amount of stock to said forming means,

means for straightening stock as it is fed, means for actuating said straightening means to' amount depending upon the difference between the desired amount of stock to be fed through said straightener and the amount actually fed.

4. In a material handling apparatus, reciprocatable tools, stock feeding rolls for feeding stock to said tools, a positively driven stock straightening device associated with said stock feeding rolls, means for actuating said straightening means to straighten different lengths of 70 stock, and means for controlling said actuating means in accordance with the amount of stock fed by said feed rolls.

5. In a material handling apparatus, reciprocatable tools, stock feeding rolls for feeding stock to said tools, a positively driven stock straightening device associated with said stock feeding rolls, an actuating arm for said straightening device, and means for varying the effective length of said arm in accordance with the amount of stock fed by said feed roll. 6. A material handling apparatus, a set of forming tools, a positively driven feeding mechanism for feeding stock to said tools, a positively driven straightening device forstraightening a length of stock and advancing it to said feeding mechanism, and means adjusted by the amount of stock advanced for controlling the amount of stock straightened.

V 'I. A material handling apparatus, a set of forming tools, a positively driven feeding mechanism for feeding stock to said tools, a positively driven straightening device for straightening a length of stock and advancing it to said feeding mechanism, and means controlled by the amount of stock advanced for moving said straightening device bodily thereby to change the degree of its eflectiveness.

8. In a material handling apparatus, a set of forming tools, a stock straightener associated with said forming tools, means for shifting the position of said straightener, and means for feeding an amount of stock through said straightener which varies with the position of the straightener.

9. In a punch press, a set of forming tools,

, means for reciprocating said forming tools, a

straightening device, means for supporting said straightening device to move toward or away from said tools, and means for feeding stock through said straightening device in accordance with its position relative to said tools.

10. The combination with a material working I apparatus of mechanism for feeding stock to the working apparatus and mechanism for straightening the stock fed by the feed mechanism, said straightening mechanism comprising straightenmovement of the supporting means as a unit to vary the eifectiveness of the straightening element actuating means.

11. The combination with a material working apparatus having feeding means for feeding a predetermined amount of stock to the working apparatus of a material straightening mechanism including driven straightening elements, a leverage mechanism actuated by the working apparatus for supplying driving power to the straightening elements, and supporting means for supporting the. straightening elements, said supporting means being movable by the stock upon its movement by the working apparatus to vary 

